The Appeal Court yesterday substantially increased jail terms for many defendants in the notorious Rohingya trafficking case in which the graves of many illegal migrants were discovered in the far South four years ago.
For some defendants, including an army lieutenant general and several local southern politicians, sentences were quadrupled to around 80 years.
Criminal Court judges read the lengthy verdicts on Thursday. The case involved 103 defendants, one of them disgraced Lt Gen Manas Kongpan, and also a former army adviser.
Their arrests and the trial that captured worldwide attention began in 2015 after the discovery of some 30 graves on a mountain in tambon Padang Besar in Sadao district, Songkhla, near the Malaysian border.
The bodies were found close to a makeshift camp and were believed to be Rohingya migrants who were victims of human trafficking.
The Appeal Court's verdict raised the jail terms after additionally finding the defendants guilty of smuggling illegal migrants into the country, trafficking and being part of a transnational criminal organisation.
Under the Appeal Court's ruling, the prison terms for Lt Gen Manas and former police sub-lieutenant Narathon Samphan, a former deputy inspector in Ranong province, were increased from 27 to 82 years.
The sentences for Banchong Pongphon, a former mayor of Songkhla province's Padang Besar, Asan Inthathanu, a former councillor in Padang Besar, and Prasit Lemlay, a former deputy mayor of Padang Besar, were increased from 78 to 79 years.
Others sentenced to jail by the original Criminal Court ruling on July 19, 2017, had their jail terms raised from 15-23 years to 38-82 years.
The Appeal Court upheld the previous ruling giving the stiffest jail term of 94-years to Myanmar national Soe Naing, who was found guilty of human trafficking and assault causing death.
The court also convicted some defendants who were earlier acquitted. They included former army captain Wisut Bunnag of the Internal Security Operations Command in Chumphon province, and former Satun provincial councillor Anas Hayeemasae.
The Appeal Court gave them 82-year jail terms.